West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1887-07-07
DETECTIVES IN JAIL

- i'N NNNllllEN ago hODtil y. Glnker
ion head of the celebrated detective
agency, sat in the rOtunda of the South.
ern, talking TO number of well-known
gentlemen, all of whom were delighted
70 discover that Il detective could sneak
the English language and express his
ideas without the use of slang The con
versation turned upon the Maxwell case.
IN the course Of which one gentleman. n
lawyer, with more father-in-law than
knowledge of law, bitterly denounced
the action of the States representatives
IN having the Detective McCullogh.
otherwise known rs "Dingfcldcr' thrown
into jail to obtain MaXwelIs confession.
what do YOU think of itH' one of the
party inquired Of Mr.. Pinkcrton.
81 believe" " said he "that where such
method is the only way TO obtain the
evidence necessary to establish guilt, it
is the best way"
''But isn't it dangerousi'
mot at all under the proper circum
stances. If a man is employed TO 90 TO
Jail with the understanding that his paw
IS the same whether he obtains confcs-
sion or not, there is no danger Rewards
arc what make men unreliable under
those circumstances, because il is tenn
tatlon to man TO make up q story. We
never take a case for this reason on basis
of reward in the event OF success. Be
sides, every one knows that such tcsti-
mony in criminal cases is always the sub
ject of careful instruction by the court.
and the testimony falls flat unless il is
corroborated by other evidence. 1t would
be very hard thing after man had
manufactured the confession TO manufac-
ture the corrobt ration. Facts invented
can never have the strength Of the facts
as they exist. There is ,ound TO be a
discrepancy, because of ne attempt 10
make everything perfect We have tried
this method a number of times. Often
VIC have put men in jail who never OBJ
tained any admission, and we have OBJ
tanned admissions which were neverused
as subsequent developments showed they
were not needed.
PUMPING An EXPRESS THIEF.
'Onc of our first experiences i'm this
line was in connection with an express
robbery. In 1859 or go, amoncy package
OF $40, 600 was stolen or lost from the
Adams EcXpress Company's Office at
Montgomery, Ala. Nathan MarOpv was
the agent there. His character was such
that strong suspicion pointed to him.
The company did not discharge him.
Finally another money package. this
time $40, 600, was missed from "A seal
pouch made up at Montgomery fer New
York city. The pouch arrived at New
York empy and investigation showed
that the pouch had been Ingeniousy cut
open underneath a pocket in the outside
IN which the way-bills were placed
There was q flap to this pocket, aud
when this flap was down the slit i'm tho
pouch was not disccrnable. 1t was pretty
clear, il seemed that the pouch had
been rihed in transit. Investigation
along the road did not result i'm a SINGLE
clue 20 the robbery, and finally some ono
took II into his head 10 make up "a Dack-
age similar 20 the one lost. put IL i'm the
pouch and take IL out lie couldn't do
~. The package wouldn't 20 through
the slit The case was then turned over
60 my father, Allen Pinkcrton who de-
clared that the money had never left the
office at Montgomery, and declared that
Marony was the thief There was
no evidence To- establish this con
clusivcly. a prejudice existed then
as now against circumstantial evidence.
so the only way to- secure conviction was
TO get Maronys confession Maronv
had been spending more money than his
salary warranted, driving fast horses aud
living high generally II was concluded
that the first thing TO do was TO yet Ma
rony away from his friends. so he was
invcigled TO New York. where the com
pany instituted civil proceedings to re-
cover the money Before his arrival a
detective Of our agency, named scott
was also arrested in connection with "a
civil suit and thrown into Ludlow street
Jail. When Marony arrived he was placed
in jail. In time he and Scott became &C.
quaintcd, and eventually they were cell
mates BY degrees Scott obtained Ma
rony confidence. Scott represented him.
self as a cotton buyer. and declared that
h hc was out OF his present trouble he
could go South with little capital and
make @ fortune in no time. lie at all
times expressed % great desire TO have
Msrony out, that they might go into the
cotton business together Narrow was
taken with the idea, and finally confdcd
to Scott that he bad q large amount Of
money secrctcd with q relative In Penn
sylvania, near JcnkntOwn and that
The money was under his wife's
control. II was shortly after this
that Scott discovered that inhucn-
NJ friends outs de were going 30 bail
him out and he impaired this news TO
harony. Then &c was arranged that